Flower Cafe
by Yugane
Summary: After her mother's death, Luka lived with her grandfather in a Flower Cafe. After she recovered from her sadness, she began a new life in the new envinroment. And after that, she learnt the legend of the Flower Cafe. Her life will never be average. It's a matter of 'happy life' or a 'sad life'. Just like a fairytale, nothing can be just average.


|_** Chapter 1: A Light of Hope**_

"Welcome to the _Flower Café_!" a cheerful, pink-haired girl welcomed the customers. That day was a fine day; the sky is blue, birds are chirping happily, and butterflies are dancing around the potted flowers outside the café. It was her fifth day living in this _Flower Café _with her grandpa. She used to live with her mother, but she died in a car crash. That accident really shocked her a lot; she couldn't stop crying for three days straight. But she has gotten better now.

"Luka, can you come here for a second?" a somewhat old voice called out to the girl; which name is Luka- Megurine Luka.

"Yes, grandpa!" Luka answered with a smile, and quickly walked over to his grandfather.

"We are running out of the ingredients, can you pick up some Chrysanthemum flowers in the garden? Two pouches would do," the grandfather asked, Luka answered right away.

"Sure! I'll be back in just a moment!"

"That's my grandchild! You've always been a great help," said the grandfather,

"No problem, I wanted to go to the flower garden, anyways," Luka answered, she then marched off to the garden; a flower garden which she and her grandfather have grown from when she was 5 years old, she was only able to visit the garden once a week up until her mother's death. The one's tending this garden is mostly only her grandfather. There were many kinds of flowers there—Roses, Chrysanthemum, Jasmine, and more.

After walking for quite a few minutes, she reached the garden. The fresh scent from the flowers was pleasant to the heart; she walked there and twirled around happily as if it was a dancing stage, she liked to dance alongside the flowers, she found it very calming.

"Ah, right! I have to pick up some Chrysanthemum flowers!" she said as if she had just awakened from a dream, she then started searching for the flowers in that pretty wide garden, even so, there are signboards of the names of each flowers to make it easier to find, Luka then stopped in front of the signboard with 'Chrysanthemum' written on it.

"There it is! Now I just have to pick them up," she said as she took out two small pouches from her pocket which is sewed up in her skirt.

"Mmm… Two pouches, huh? Chrysanthemums really do sell, don't they?" she mumbled to herself as she picked up some of the flowers and putting them on to the pouches.

After she finished filling up the pouches, she put it back to the pocket and walked to the exit, yet she stopped for a second and turned her head back to the field of colorful flowers; the view was breath taking, she couldn't help but to come back and dance again.

She moved her hands gently into the air, her body moved smoothly like a snake, and her legs were jumping and swirling like a rabbit; synchronizing with the wind and the flowers, a dance that could hypnotize people- that kind of dance.

After she was fulfilled of dancing, she stopped and went to the exit; which was an old wooden door which led to a dark, small alley and finally to the town. No one really knows about the existence of the garden.

After she locked the wooden door, she turned and walked along the dark alley. It was not too long until she could see the sunlight again, then she hummed quietly as she walked back to the café throughout the town.

The town was as busy as always, there were people chatting, selling, buying, and even drawing. Most of the houses were using bricks, but some were still on wood. On the way to the café, she saw a man dressed like a samurai and a boy—probably a junior high school boy, it looked like the boy was being bullied or something, so Luka came to see what's going on.

"Hey, what is going on here?" Luka asked while patting the samurai-dressed man,

"Huh? Go away! It's a man's business," he answered straight away, "Huh?"

Luka suddenly grabbed his collar and banged him to the wall; somehow, Luka's bright and cheery aura had turned into a dark one,

"I hate discrimination, if that's what you want to know,"

"Agh! I'm sorry!" the man shouted, suddenly, Luka felt that something was getting in to her pocket, when she looked at it, the boy pulled out a Chrysanthemum flower and ran away with it.

"Hey!" Luka shouted in shock, she released the samurai-man and ran after the boy in reflex,

"Wait! You …Woman!" the man said as he tried to regain his balance, he then ran after Luka which was still running after the boy.

After a long chase, the boy was unable to be caught; he had gone from the sight.

"Pant… Pant… Where is he?" Luka asked herself,

"Yo," the samurai-man patted Luka which shocked her,

"CHRYSANTHEMUM!" Luka shouted the one thing she was thinking about then,

"What are you saying now?" the man questioned her; looking confused,

"Huh? Ah, no… It's just that the boy stole my Chrysanthemum…" Luka answered,

"What's Chrysanthemum?" asked the man, Luka stood still; giving no answers, she was shocked on how stupid the man was,

"A flower used mostly for tea," Luka answered in a low voice,

"Oh, I see," the man nodded his head, Luka sighed and turned behind to go back to the café, "Only one flower's missing, so it's fine, I guess..." she thought,

"Where are you going?" asked the man, Luka turned her head to him and answered,

"Home,"

"Don't you want to retrieve your Chrysanthemum?" the man asked again,

"I have two pouches here, he only stole one- so it's fine. Well then, I'll see you later, I guess," Luka answered yet again, turning her head back looking to the path ahead of her, she walked off, from a distance, she could hear the man sighing,

"Ah… You're no fun,"

…

Luka arrived at the café and greeted her grandfather right away,

"I'm home, grandpa!"

"You're here! I thought you were kidnapped or something, what took you so long?" the grandfather asked,

"Ah, well… I played tag with a boy on the way here. I lost, though," she answered, seemed like her grandfather didn't get suspicious of that reason, he let it slide just like that,

"Did you get the Chrysanthemum?" he asked,

"Yes, I did. Here you go!" Luka replied as she presented the two pouches of Chrysanthemum to him,

"Thank you once again," he said as he grabbed the pouches from Luka's hand, he quickly went away to brew the Chrysanthemum tea, Luka stood again on the entrance door to greet the customers.

Time passed and the night fell, Luka hung a closed sign on the door, then her grandfather said to her,

"Luka, can you get me some roses for tomorrow? I'm sorry, but when the Chrysanthemum stock was empty, the Rose tea and the _Red Heart Cake_ became a hit. You can just get it tomorrow morning,"

"Hm? Oh! Okay, I'll just go to the garden now!" Luka said enthusiastically, Luka never went to the garden at night before; she wanted to see the view of the garden at night. At first, her grandfather didn't agree on Luka going there at night, but after some minutes discussing, Luka was free to go.

The town was illuminated by the lights coming out from the houses, even though it's nighttime, there were still some people. Well, it was still 9 PM; if there was no one out there it would be creepy.

Luka arrived in front of the dark alley to the garden; it looked way scarier than when it was on day time.

"Maybe coming here at night is a bad idea after all…" Luka sighed, just as she took a step to the alley, a boy ran behind her, Luka rotated her head 90 degrees to the west to see who was it—it was the boy who stole the Chrysanthemum flower.

"Ah! Wait!" Luka shouted and chased him again.

…

After chasing him for some time, she ended up standing in front of a park; she went inside and found the boy going in to the bushes in the north of the park, Luka went after him and saw a shocking, yet at the same time horrifying view.

There was a pretty big hole and but it wasn't dug too deep, Luka guessed that the boy dug it himself—with his own hands which were covered in dirt. A corpse of a man was laid beside the boy, it seemed like the corpse wasn't new- it had rot, but it didn't stink.

"...Huh?" Luka mumbled with her eyes widened in shock, the boy didn't say anything, as if he wasn't bothered by the presence of Luka there. The boy then slowly carried the corpse to the hole he dug, and put it there gently. The boy let out a small sigh and he took out the Chrysanthemum he stole from Luka this afternoon, and put it there beside the corpse. The boy stared at it for a moment with a sad face.

"Do you have more flowers?" the boy said in a low voice, which was enough to startle Luka,

"W-What for?" Luka asked, the boy turned his head to Luka,

"I want to make a small flower bed for my father," he answered, "The ground… must be uncomfortable for him to sleep in, and one single flower will not be enough to accompany him for eternal,"

Luka was surprised and she became sorry for the boy, she looked down on to the corpse, and looked back to the boy.

"Then, let's go make a flower bed for him, shall we?" Luka replied with a smile, the boy didn't say a single word, as if things didn't go as he predicted,

"Why?" the boy asked,

"Huh? Why why? Don't you want to make a flower bed for him?" Luka asked back in confusion,

"Why did you decide on helping me? Aren't you angry that I stole your flower?" the boy answered with a question,

"Well… I don't know. I know the feeling of losing someone. In fact, my mother just died a week ago. Stealing is bad, but… it's just a flower, and you're doing it because of a good reason," Luka answered,

"…I see, but I don't really see any reason of doing this. My father's dead, giving him a flower bed won't change anything, why am I doing this?" the boy replied,

"Hm? Well, maybe… because you like flowers?" Luka guessed, that guess seemed to shock the boy a little,

"Why would I like flowers? Flowers are too girly," he replied, "But my father liked flowers, so maybe that's it,"

"Oh? Okay then," Luka said in a small laugh,

"Then, can we go?" the boy asked,

"Ah, sure! Let's go," Luka answered.

…

After covering the hole and the corpse with some leaves he prepared, the boy followed Luka to the flower garden. As they enter the garden, the boy stood still and gazed upon the flowers—he was stunned, even Luka herself was mesmerized by the view. The garden didn't look so dark with the moon shining its light down to the garden. In fact, the garden turned golden by the light.

"It's beautiful…" Luka said, realizing that the owner herself was looking surprised at the view, the boy asked,

"Isn't this garden yours? Why look so surprised now?"

"Well, I've never been out here at night time. The view is really better than daytime," Luka explained, the boy nodded as a sign of understanding,

"Let's pick up some flowers now," Luka said,

"Okay," the boy answered; walking towards Luka. Luka then walked around and looked for some flowers to pick as she explained the meaning of each flowers,

"This is the Jasmine flower, this flower means good luck," Luka said as she picked up a flower of Jasmine, followed by the boy who also picked up one,

"This one is the Rose flower, it means passionate love," Luka explained again as she picked up the Rose carefully not to touch the thorns, the boy did the same,

"How about those yellow ones?" the boy asked while pointing to a field of Poppy flowers,

"Ah, those are Poppy flowers, they mean the wonder of dreams and a sleep of death," Luka answered, hearing that, the boy picked up 5 flowers of Poppy,

"Do you like that flower?" Luka asked,

"He died sleeping, so I thought this flower would fit for him," the boy answered with a gentle smile and a lonely look to the flowers. Luka felt a slight pain in her chest,

"How about the flower I stole earlier?" the boy asked innocently,

"It is a Chrysanthemum flower; it means a light of hope in the dark times," Luka answered, the boy looked surprised,

"Then… I guess it's a good thing that I stole the Chrysanthemum—with that, I could get to meet you," the boy replied, "When my father died, I couldn't bury him, my father was pretty poor, I was unable to even afford a small plot of land for his grave. I couldn't even give him a death ceremony. I didn't know anything else to do for him, so I dug his grave on my own,"

Luka listened to the boy's story with great attention, she really felt sorry for him,

"I can give you some money for your father's grave," offered Luka, but the boy shook his head,

"It is fine; I've never been able to be a good son for my father. So if I were to buy him a plot for my father, it has to be what I've gained from my hard work. And you helped me a lot already. I don't want to be clinging to someone else all the time," explained the boy, Luka couldn't answer that, and so they continued looking for flowers for the flower bed.

…

After finishing up gathering flowers, they went back to the park with hands full of flowers. They set up a flower bed for the corpse which was first removed from the hole and after they were done setting up the flower bed, the boy returned his father to the hole and buried it.

"Let's stick a twig here," the boy said while pointing into the northern side of the grave,

"Okay," Luka answered with a slow nod, after finding a twig and sticking it to the grave, Luka offered herself to accompany the boy to his house since it was almost midnight, the boy refused but Luka insisted to accompany him.

The boy then led Luka to his house; it was a small, run-down house. It was made of wooden and there were quite a lot of damages on both the exterior and the interior. Luka didn't come in, though. But she could still see the insides of the boy's house since the front door was left open, the boy didn't go inside; he turned back to Luka instead,

"Well then, you've seen my house. Where's your house?" the boy asked,

"My house is the _Flower Café_, you should come by sometime!" Luka answered,

"_Flower Café_?" the boy asked again,

"Yes, _Flower Café_, it serves dishes and drinks containing flowers, some only uses the flower for decoration, though," Luka explained,

"Oh, that. Well, I'll try to visit then, but I don't have any money to buy anything there," the boy replied,

"It's fine, I'll serve you one for free," Luka said as she chuckled, the boy looked confused,

"Huh? Why?" the boy asked,

"Why else? We're friends, aren't we?" Luka answered, the boy didn't say anything at first, but then he rolled his eyes and gave a small laugh, feeling somewhat insulted, Luka threw him a question,

"What's so funny?"

"We just met each other this afternoon and we don't even know each other's name. How could we be friends?" the boy answered,

"Well then, I'm Luka. What about you?" Luka said,

"Not telling," the boy replied right away,

"What?" Luka said,

"See you later then," the boy bade Luka goodbye and closed the door,

"Wait!" Luka shouted,

"Click!" the sound of the door being locked was loud enough for Luka to hear, being confused, Luka turned around and walked back to the café.

…

"Luka! Where have you been!?" the voice of Luka's grandfather echoed from the kitchen as soon as she closed the front door of the café,

"Ah! I'm so sorry, grandpa! Something happened on my way to the gard- ah! I forgot to pick up the Roses!" Luka said in shock, her grandfather walked slowly to Luka,

"You've been coming home pretty late from this afternoon, what happened exactly?" asked the grandfather, Luka shrugged,

"It's nothing, just… something. But it's nothing dangerous!" Luka answered, her grandfather sighed,

"Okay, I trust you. Just promise me that you won't do anything bad or things like that," he said,

"Okay, grandpa!" Luka replied with a smile, "You can trust me!"

Her grandfather gave her a light smile, he then turned around as if he was going to go back to the kitchen, but he only stood there,

"What is it, grandpa?" Luka asked out of curiosity,

"…Do you know the legend of this _Flower Café_?"

"Legend?" Luka asked,

"Yes, a legend that anyone who lives here would be living a story of fairytales," he answered, "It is said that this café is protected by the nature spirits, those who are living here won't be able to live just an average life, it is just a matter between a happy life or a sad life,"

Luka didn't really get what her grandfather said, she thought that things like that was impossible and didn't believe it,

"I guess you have started the first page of the story of your fairytale, so I'm giving it to you," continued the grandfather while handing Luka a big, wide book, Luka took the book and began opening it, each of the page was numbered, so she could see clearly how many pages were there on that book,

"100 pages?" she said in shock, her grandfather nodded,

"Use that book as your diary, it will guide you through life," the grandfather said, not knowing what to say anymore, Luka ended the conversation,

"Okay. Good night, grandpa,"

"Good night," answered the grandfather, after taking a few steps towards her bedroom, she could hear her grandfather from a distance,

"Don't make the same mistake as I did,"

…

Luka arrived at her bedroom, the first thing she looked at is her digital clock on a small table beside her bed; it was already after midnight, to be exact- 01.27 AM.

Luka's bedroom was dominated in pink and there were decorations of tuna and flowers. Beside her bed, there was a plain black window facing the flower garden. And there were pictures of Luka, her friends, and her family framed on flower and tuna shaped frames.

"Ah… I'm so tired…" Luka yawned as she dropped herself to her bed, "So many unexpected things happened today, huh?"

She threw her gaze to the book her grandfather gave to her that was sitting still on her right hand. She then got up and went to a study desk on her room to start writing on her 'diary'.

She never thought it was so fun to write in a diary, she kept writing and writing until there was nothing else to write about. After that, she closed the book and jumped into the bed, she then closed her eyes gently. And just like that, she fell deep into her sleep.

* * *

*) The _Red Heard Cake_ is a cake with a blend of Rose.

I hope you enjoy the story. Please leave suggestions and critiques for me to improve.

Reviews are very welcomed.

Thanks for reading!


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